Yoga , Yog, or यो ग

There is often a debate about the pronunciation of words like योग, राम, राग, धर्म, अर्थ, काम, etc. Some even blame it on the “north-south” divide and some Hindustani singers claim that there is no such thing as Ra-Gaa and that is just Raag. As most people know, these terms are in Sanskrit which is the basis of most of the Indic languages and their dharmic underpinnings. 

Hindi had too many influences over the centuries. In many parts of the north, only urdu script was allowed until not too long ago. For much of the rest of India, the Urdu-ized Hindi was popularized by  writers of the Hindi movie industry. Over the course of these influences, the use of halants, nasals disappeared ( गङ्गा has become गंगा) and also resulted in the “schwa deletion” (राम became राम्  and started to rhyme with रहीम् ). While this is fine for every day use, it makes more sense to use Sanskrit pronunciation for dharmic terms, Indic literature and the arts.

Unlike हिंदी, in संस्कृतम् for योग Yoga - we pronounce the letter ग in its entirety (पूर्ण आकार). It is not येग् (yog) with a halant (्) (अर्ध आकार). Same with: it is not राम् (Raam) it is राम (Raama); and it is not राग् (Raag) it is राग(Raaga)

If you look at old brij bhasha, you see them intact. Try listening RamaCharitraManas of Sant Tulsidas, much of it is still sung without schwa deletion. Attaching a link to a rendition by this young lady:

https://youtu.be/2Wi1O4Aw2SA?si=C6mZnC-DbXEcDxL4

So, the next time you speak of a राग or welcome someone with सुस्वागतम् remember that only the latter has a halant. And that there no such thing as योगा, it’s योग and not योग्

धन्यवादः !

Footnote: राम is the प्रातिपदिकम् (nominal base) and रामः is the प्रथम विभक्ति (nominative form of noun)